Rest Sweet Child, Mommy's Here
by Tsuki6047
Summary: <html><head></head>Itachi returns home after a difficult mission finding himself feeling worse than normal. He struggles both externally and internally, battling with the choices he has to make, while his body fights against him. Sickness looms over him and is becoming increasingly worse with no signs of getting better.</html>


**If someone could PM me about Beta-ing this story, I would be very thankful.**

**Please, please, please read and review!**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto. Just my plot.**

The moon hung brightly in the midnight sky; it's pale light illuminated his figure and allowed the dark circles of exhaustion to show beneath his dull eyes. ...He had been away on a mission, and this time, luckily, it had only been for a few days; though it felt as if years had passed since he had last seen his home and his darling younger brother. Itachi pushed open the door to his home weakly and crept in; keeping careful to remain quiet so his family wouldn't wake. He staggered to his room and was greeted by the very pleasant sight of his futon. He fell into the soft sheets and was quickly engulfed by the comforting scents of his mother.

"_odd,"_ he thought yawning_, "she must have washed them when I was away."_

A small smile formed over his lips as the sweet scent wrapped itself around him, and coaxed him into deserved rest.

The next morning when he awoke, he felt unexpectedly ill. In all honesty, he had felt rather feverish the night before, but he was sure it would pass. He sighed tiredly and snuggled his head back into his feathery pillow, deeply inhaling the addictive aroma as he did so. He allowed himself to lay in the comfort of it only for a moment, before forcing himself away so he could get up and ready himself for the day's events. As soon as his feet touched the cold, wood floor though, the sour taste of bile rose in his throat and his head began to throb painfully. He nearly fell back onto his futon from sheer surprise of the sudden attack on his body. His fingers made their way to his temples and massaged them tenderly, attempting to make the growing pain end. He stood still for several moments, letting the pain dull; then took a deep breath and walked slowly out of his room down to the kitchen. His mother was busy fixing breakfast, but she caught him from the corner of her eye.

"Welcome home Itachi!" she greeted joyfully, "how was your mission dear?"

Itachi took a seat at the low, wooden table and unconsciously brought his hand back to his head to rub his temple once again, "it was fine," he replied. (In all honesty, he could hardly recall what happened)

She turned from the stove with a plate of food in her hands, "you seem tired," she observed, "there are bags under your eyes."

"I wasn't able to get much sleep last night," the boy responded curtly, "I arrived home rather late."

"Is that so?" she asked, setting the plate in front of him.

The smell of the food aroused his nausea more so.

"Y-yes.."he stuttered, dizzily. He shook his head to clear away the sickening scent and mentally cursed himself for the moment of weakness.

"May I just have a cup of tea for now mother?"

"If that's all you want sweetie," She replied kindly, but Itachi could hear the worry lacing her voice.

She walked over to the kettle and poured a small cup of the soothing substance, then set it on the table in front of her child.

"Maybe you should consider going back to sleep for a bit," Mikoto suggested, grabbing the full plate of food from the table and setting it aside for later.

Itachi shook his head, "I'm fine Mother. There are things I have to attend to later anyway."

Mikoto bit back a protest, "Well, if you need me than, I'll be doing laundry."

Itachi nodded absentmindedly and stared at the dark liquid in front of him. Even that seemed like it was too much for his stomach to handle. Mikoto glanced over to him one more time, concern glazed over her coal colored orbs, then turned to leave.

"Nii-san?" a small voice inquired. Itachi turned his head slightly and saw Sasuke standing at the kitchen entrance.

A small smile curled over his lips "Hello Sasuke."

"Nii-san!" Sasuke squealed in glee and ran over to hug his brother; Itachi returned the embrace happily.

Sasuke beamed, "Will you help me with my training now?" he asked excitedly.

"Later, Sasuke" Itachi said, softly poking his brother on the forehead.

Sasuke pouted, crushed with disappointment.

"You promised when you got back from your mission you would help me!"

"Not today, maybe tomorrow," Itachi said gently.

"but Nii-sannnn," Sasuke whined.

Itachi propped his elbow on the table and leaned his head in his palm" Don't you need to be getting ready for school?" he questioned, trying to change the subject.

Sasuke's pout deepened, "You're mean Nii-san," he stomped then left to get ready.

Itachi chuckled softly, then stood up to get ready as well; he had to leave to leave for ANBU soon. Mikoto had finished the laundry and headed back to the kitchen to start on dishes. She stopped at the entryway and saw Itachi get up feebly. She felt suddenly feverish with worry, her son had never looked so fragile before and it caused her to feel severe discomfort. For as much as she wanted to insist he lay down, she decided to wait and see if he became better, it might just be a cold after all.

Itachi felt pure pain as he tried to walk to his room. Each step he took was like a knife being shoved into his chest...multiple times over. Maybe he could simply stay home this once and his father could inform the ANBU he had felt bad (which was an understatement). But that was highly unlikely, nearly in the same range as impossible for that matter; so he pushed that thought aside lickety-split. As he was walking, a dizzy spell possessed him and caused him to stumble. He grabbed the wall for support. His breathing sent a fire sensation of pain shooting through his body. He stood by the wall, gasping for breath.

"What's wrong with me?" he muttered, pulling away from the wall and taking another deep, painful breath. He staggered the rest of the way to his room.

He quickly tied his hair in the familiar ponytail and put on his clothes. Bending his body over to put his pants on had sent instant messages to his brain reading: "Hello...please kill me now. Sincerely, everything." But he kept that to himself. When he finished getting dressed, he headed back down to the kitchen; occasionally stopping to gasp for air or to keep his balance. He heard his father's voice echo kitchen; which cause him to instantly stand up straight and force his breathing to even out. Quickly checking everything looked okay, he walked into the kitchen.

"Good morning Itachi," Fugaku greeted him.

"Good morning Father," Itachi replied respectfully, still standing at the entryway.

"How did your mission go?" His father inquired.

"It was successful..."

"That's my boy," Fugaku smiled and returned to eating silently. Itachi looked up to see Sasuke, his eyes glinting with jealousy.

Itachi gave a mental sigh, _"Maybe if you understood what was going on, you wouldn't envy me so much Sasuke,"_ Itachi thought. Itachi both envied and pitied him. Sasuke is able to enjoy having a childhood. It was worry free and, what Itachi envisioned as, perfect. His mind was still too young and innocent to see past the lies that have been told to him. But those lies also kept him in the dark and blinded him from reality. The future is unpredictable for his mind. Itachi knew that the lies would not rest until Sasuke could see past them, and realize that the world he had been living in, was just a pretty, painted picture that was used to cover up the horrible, gaping hole that was reality. Itachi's future will be dark no matter what he does. If it's the clans plans of destruction, or his mission from Danzo, either one will turn Itachi's life into a living hell. Those sweet, beautiful lies that wrapped themselves around Sasuke, Itachi envied so much. He would gladly just see the pretty picture...and not what's underneath.

"Itachi," His mother asked worriedly.

Itachi snapped out of his thoughts, "Yes Mother?" he said shaking his head. By the look of her expression, he knew she wanted to ask something.

"May I have something to eat?" he requested before she got the chance.

"Yes, I still have your food from earlier," She smiled warmly and set the plate in front of him.

He ate his food slowly. Making sure it would stay down before moving on to the next bite. He had eaten less than a quarter of what was on his plate before he got up to leave.

His Mother looked at the nearly full plate, fear picking at her inside. She turned to the direction her son had walked off to, the fear she felt growing.

**This was my second story approximately three years ago. ^-^ I decided to go through a rewrite it, correcting mistakes and spelling and such to see how much my writing has improved. I have gotten into the habit of describing every single last thing the characters do down to eating though. I have to say, I like my writing style much better than I did 3 years ago; but I must keep improving and making myself better, because when I read over it, I still wanted to cry some.**

****NOTE: It'd be really awesome if you checked out my beta profile! At the moment, I'm willing to do most any story! So if you need one for anything, please go check out my profile!**

**~Tsuki6047**


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